Category: Uncategorized

So I took the summer off from coding and job-hunting. TLDR: According to trusted media outlet The Hillsboro Tribune, you can now refer to me as “Portland artist James Nielson“. Add to that painter’s model / hay-pitcher. But still full-stack developer.

Painter, Model, Farmer, Full-Stack Developer

I wanted my summer to involve a little sun, fresh air, and fun, so I let myself get recruited to help paint a gigantic, county-sized mural out in North Plains, Oregon. (IN North Plains? More like ON North Plains! ) Between 1-hour commutes, the project kept me slaving away in the sun for 10 hours a day for most of the summer, so I got that sun I wanted. Unfortunately, the warehouses we were painting were full of fish food, so fresh air? Not so much. And let me tell you, if you think painting murals is the work of finicky, fragile prima-donna artists… it is not, but I did it anyway. Examine my sunburn to see what happens our type.

For the record, I’m the wimp that was normally hiding in that sun-shelter.

But look at those results! I’ve never really painted before, so yes, I’m pretty darn proud that I could manage something that resembles a thing that actually exists somewhere! As I always say, what’s the worst that could happen? Heat stroke. Who knew. Well, I learned a bit about painting, and I even learned something to apply to programming. Allison passed on the advice of her mentor:

Always paint with the biggest brush you can. ~ Larry Kangas

I sometimes expect projects I take on to spring into being like Adonis, fully formed and perfect. Know the feeling?

How we think “the pros” do it.

The reality? Here’s (roughly) how you paint a mural:

Spend a long time turning ideas into a vision into details (kinda like a User Story).

Sketch out a mockup and compare to your ultimate source of truth, the wall. Adapt accordingly.

Okay, so this isn’t the perfect flow-chart, but you get the picture. So there you go. If you want to see it in person, stop by North Plains next time you’re headed out to the coast or berry-picking. It’s also home to the famous Elephant Garlic Festival 🙂

Considering that NASA’s Kepler Mission has raised the number of verified exoplanets to over 3,000, I’ve updated the antiquated “Hello world” accordingly. Yay science!

I’m James Nielson, a web developer in Portland Oregon, where I’ve lived since I fell off a potato truck from Idaho back in the plaid-flannel era. That’s my TLDR, in case you’re bored already. No? Then I’ll tell you all about myself! For the last decade I’ve been a media developer for major advertising campaigns. The media portfolio I’ve assembled over the years is filled with motion design, video editing, 3D & 2D compositing & animation, photography and more, from concept to spit-shine to delivery. At one point I found myself trying to coax a llama into an elevator on our way to the jewelers, but my specialty is herding pixels. I have a long history of contributing to the work of talented professional teams on polished, high-end projects.

Llamas do not like elevators.

Before getting shanghaied into advertising I was a budding flash developer and have always felt the call of the web. I enjoy problem-solving and I’m still in awe of the ongoing revolution that is transforming nearly everything about the human experience. Feeling the call of the code, I finally took the plunge back into web development with a full stack course at Epicodus, adding SQL, PHP/Silex/Twig/PHPUnit, Javascript/frameworks and more to my repertoire. With a gob of Github repos under my belt, I took a junior dev intern position at Lumen Learning. I chose Lumen because the position combined a social mission (to lower the cost of textbooks) with opportunities to expand my experience with React.js, Ruby and WordPress. That’s basically what I’m after. I hope to contribute to meaningful missions, and to always be learning a new JS framework (haha).

My free time is spent yardening, exploring nature, hanging out with family and/or cooking things in my spooky magic solar oven. (I seriously cooked a chicken using daylight. In April.) I’m basically so damn Portland it borders on parody. A subaru-driving, kimchi-fermenting non-native who minored in writing, was there when Birdie Sanders landed, owned a food cart selling hand-crafted organic Argentinish empanadas… But I never had a band.

If you could use some quality help from a dedicated professional with a deep well of diverse experience and a passion for quality projects, then by all means I’d love to meet up and hear about what you’re working on!